First Pic!

[Mtlalex]

Hi everyone!

I feel I'm probably not the first and definitely won't be the last to join this site after being giving a camera for xmas! Like many of the forums i joined over the years on different subjects i like to introduce myself first. Im 30 years old from Montreal Canada, I plan on doing this for fun but who knows right?? lol In the beautiful world of photography Im a complete newbie so for the past week I've been reading/watching tutorials and filled my head with as much as i can on all the basics of camera handling.

I was given a Nikon D3200 with a DX VR AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm

So here is my first Pic, well the first i feel is post worthy:
It was taken on Aperture Priority at f/4.8, Shutter speed 2.5s ISO 100

I have not edited this pic except lowered the quality for easy upload. Please leave comments on it.

Thanks!
Alex

[GBO25]

Pretty good composition and exposure Alex and an interesting subject. The only thing is you've got me wondering what is at the top of the bottle in the background. Perhaps a slightly shorter focal length or moving back a bit to include whatever is there would complete the image. Of course this is just my opinion.

[IzzieK]

It is just 25 to 7. Don't drink and drive....if there is a key beside this watch, with that yellow liquid behind it, this is what I will think with this shot. Just a thought...

[Shadowman]

Alex,

Welcome, adding exif data is a good start as sometimes data gets stripped during upload. Nice first effort, very familiar with the D3200, a very good camera. I like the composition of your image, nice DOF. Did you use external light source, highlight on the 20 is a nice touch.

[Manfred M]

Hi Alex - you've built up an interesting image. It certainly works from a compositional standpoint; focus is certainly on the watch face, and the shallow DoF means that you have a nice, soft background that does not distract from the main subject, but rather complements it. I guess we are all wondering. "what's in the bottle"? You have a fairly strong composition due to your use of the "rule of thirds". The watch is more or less centred on where the bottom third and right third intersect.

No getting into the technical side a bit more. This is a mixed light shot, the right half of the watch is silver, but the left side has a warm colour cast and the image has an overall muddy appearance. Whenever one shoots in mixed light, one gets into these tradeoffs. I suspect you have left your camera on auto white balance. The next time you might want to try one of the colour temperature presets (tungsten, cloudy, etc.) to see how these impact your image and see if you like any of these better. There is no right or wrong answer here, just more of an understanding of light and how your camera handles it.

You've also got a fairly good example of the issues associated with photographic metals and glass; reflections and specular highlights. Again, these are decisions that you make as a photographer, so there is no right or wrong way to do this; the positioning and direction of your light source and your camera all impact this. Learning how these impact your image is part of becoming a more experienced photographer.

Finally there us the question of sharpness. One can certainly see the motion blur of the watches second hand. You say this was a 2-1/2 second exposure and you can certainly see that this is correct when you look at the distance the second hand has traveled during the shot. I find that you are not 100% sharp here, but can't tell why; it could be a combination of a slight amount of motion blur due to camera shake or the focus point that the camera picked (I assume that you were using some form of matrix focus modes) or even the fairly shallow DoF (depth of field) you were shooting with. Even the downsampling to post here likely played a part.

Again, play around with your camera and look at different ways of steadying it and focusing it. The 18-55mm Nikkor is a bit of a pain to focus manually; just something else for you to read about and practice.

I've taken your image and taken some of the warmth out of it just to demonstrate what changing the colour temperature settings will do. As this is a jpeg, rather than a RAW file, there are limits to the adjustments. It looks a touch underexposed as well, so I brightened it up a touch in my version.





Regardless; great first post. Keep on practicing and learning!

[Mtlalex]

Pretty good composition and exposure Alex and an interesting subject. The only thing is you've got me wondering what is at the top of the bottle in the background. Perhaps a slightly shorter focal length or moving back a bit to include whatever is there would complete the image. Of course this is just my opinion.

Thanks for the comment Graham I will try to include the whole bottle next time?

Welcome, adding exif data is a good start as sometimes data gets stripped during upload. Nice first effort, very familiar with the D3200, a very good camera. I like the composition of your image, nice DOF. Did you use external light source, highlight on the 20 is a nice touch.

If I understand what exif data is, it would help people understand and see the settings i have used for the picture? and yes i used my iPhone light during the "shoot" it was standing on the right side of the watch.

alex

[Mtlalex]

I will definitely go read up more on white balancing, focusing, steadying the camera And also on the "rule of third as i must of accomplished it without knowing..

Thanks Manfred!

[mknittle]

Hi Alex,
That s a really good first post. I think you will like this board. there are many very good photographers on here that are willing to help us get better.

[Mtlalex]

Hi Alex,
That s a really good first post. I think you will like this board. there are many very good photographers on here that are willing to help us get better.

Ya seriously! Im really happy i ended up on this site!!